Women & Infants' Staff Earn Awards of Excellence

Release Date: 02/10/2017

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, recently awarded its Richard P. Welch Awards for Continued Excellence in Patient and Family Centered Care in both clinical and non-clinical categories. Diane Silva was honored with the non-clinical recognition. Women & Infants also presented the Excellence in Patient and Family Centered Care Award to Therese Stafford.

“I congratulate Diane and Therese all of the nominees,” said Mark R. Marcantano, president and chief operating officer of Women & Infants Hospital. “Your work and dedication reinforces and reinvigorates Women & Infants’ commitment to patient and family centered care.”

Non-clinical winner of the 2017 Welch Award, Diane Silva, of Johnston, is the site manager of Patient and Financial Services. Diane and her team are responsible for most patients’ first interaction upon arriving to Women & Infants - a time that is vital to the overall patient experience. Diane has implemented daily management rounds where the patient access staff discuss process improvement initiatives, data, and action plans. Diane’s nomination said, “Diane does not forget the vital role her staff play in the patient experience and treats the entire group with respect and an attitude of dignity for how they handle even the most unexpected situations. Diane’s leadership with her group is outstanding and it is evident in their engagement, performance and demonstration of ACT (accountability, caring and teamwork) values with patients and families, peers and hospital leadership.”

Therese Stafford, of Coventry, is the first recipient of the Excellence in Patient and Family Centered Care Award. This award recognizes a member, who is either a former patient, family member of a patient, or a council volunteer, of one of Women & Infants Patient and Family Advisory Councils. Councils include: Hospital-Wide, Obstetrics, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and Oncology. This year the award was named for Women & Infants’ former director of patient and family centered care, Noreen Mattis, and serves to acknowledge a member of one of the hospital’s Patient and Family Advisory Councils for his or her outstanding commitment. In nominating her, a colleague acknowledged Therese’s unwavering dedication to driving work that supports the needs of families. Therese, a former patient, has sat on the NICU Advisory Council since 2005 and the Hospital-Wide Council since 2007.

Established in 2006 by the family and friends of the late Richard “Dick” Welch, the Richard P. Welch Award for Continued Excellence in Patient and Family Centered Care was inspired by his unwavering commitment to excellence in patient and family centered care during his 35-year tenure serving Women & Infants as a trustee, board chair and chief operating officer. Awards are presented annually for a clinical and non-clinical employee. This year, the awards were presented by Mark Marcantano, president and chief operating officer of Women & Infants Hospital, during the fifth annual Patient, Family, and Community Centered Summit.

About Women & Infants Hospital

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation’s leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. A major teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, as well as a number of specialized programs in women’s medicine, Women & Infants is the 9th largest stand-alone obstetrical service in the country and the largest in New England with approximately 8,500 deliveries per year. A Designated Baby-Friendly® USA hospital, U.S.News & World Report 2014-15 Best Children’s Hospital in Neonatology and a 2014 Leapfrog Top Hospital, in 2009 Women & Infants opened what was at the time the country’s largest, single-family room neonatal intensive care unit.

Women & Infants and Brown offer fellowship programs in gynecologic oncology, maternal-fetal medicine, urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, neonatal-perinatal medicine, pediatric and perinatal pathology, gynecologic pathology and cytopathology, and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. It is home to the nation’s first mother-baby perinatal psychiatric partial hospital, as well as the nation’s only fellowship program in obstetric medicine.

Pictured from left to right are: Diane Silva, manager of Patient and Financial Services and Mark Marcantano, president and chief operating officer of Women & Infants Hospital.

Pictured from left to right are: Therese Stafford, recipient of the Excellence in Patient and Family Centered Care Award and Mark Marcantano, president and chief operating officer of Women & Infants Hospital.